Improvement in hay-carts



2811 t Sh f2. E. B. BIGELoW. ee s ee HAY-CART.

` Patented May 2,1876.

".PETERS, PKDTO-UTHDGRAPHER, WASH NGTON D C UNITED "STATES PATENT @rrrcn nRAsTUs BRIGHAM B'IenLow, or BosToN,`MAssAonnsnTTs.

IMPAROVEM ENT' IN HAV-CARYTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 176,922., dated May 2, 1876; application filed August 16, 1875. f

To all whom 'it may concern Be it known that I, ERAsTUs BRIGHAM BIGELOW, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Hay-Gart, of which the following is a specification;

My invention relates to the mode of constructing the body of the cart, and of holding its stakes'in position. It has for its object the construction of a cart, which may be used as a hay-cart orv as a box-cart, and be readily changed to adapt it to the one purpose or to the other, and which shall have large holding capacity as a hay-cart without the usual top rails, which obstruct the loading and unloading of the hay.

The accompanying drawings represent my improvement, and form a part of the specification. Y

` Figure 1 is a side elevation of the cart as a hay-cart; Fig. 2, a rear elevation thereof; Fig. 3, a longitudinal section, and Fig. 4 a transverse section. 'Fig 5 is a side elevation of the cart as a box-cart, and Fig. 6 a plan thereof. v

The body of the cart is made of plank put together in angular form to giveit strength, and to support the stakes. Each of its sides and ends is formed of two parts, marked, respectively, a and b in the .vdrawings the part a being in a vertical position and the part b in a horizontal position, the lower edge of the upright-part resting on a side and near the outer edge` of the horizontal part, as shown in section in Figs. 3, 4, and 7. The two parts are firmly bolted together,

ythus forming angular bars, which make the sides and ends of the cartbody, the sides and ends being securely jointed' together at the corners where they meet. The horizontal part of .the angular bars to some extent forms thefbottom or oor of the cart, While the remaining portion is formed of boards c, supported bycross-bars d, which are secured to the under side of the angular bars just mentioned.

, I have thus far described the cart-body as it is intended to be used as a box-cart. I will of notches, h, are formed inthe inner cornerl of the upper edge of the-upright part. The tenons of the stakes are inserted in their respective mortises, while the stakes receive additional support by resting in their corresponding notches. These parts and their relation to each other Vare represented lon an enlarged scale in Fig. 7.

It will be readily seen that by this arrangement comparatively long stakes may be amplysupported without the usual top rail; that the stakes may lare or be so widely spread at their upper ends as to increase the holding capacity of the cart, and that they may be easily removed and replaced to change it from a hay-cart to a box-cart, and vice versa. The number of stakes to be used may be varied according to the size of the cart to be built, and the firmness of the hay to be transported; and, whatever their number may be, one should be placed in each corner of the cart-body.. The middle stake of the forward end of the cart is longer than the others, and is provided with a pin, t', to which the reins (when horses are used) may be hitched, while the driver attends to loading the hay@ Thewheels may be applied to the cart-body, asis usual. Four wheels may be used, as represented in the drawings, or only two, as in the common ox-cart.

I do not intend to confine myself to the precise form and arrangement of the parts,

as above specied, for they may be varied within the principles of my invention ;V as, for example, instead of making the lower ends of the stakes square with a square tenon, as above speciiedthey may be turned their whole length, and have a round tenen, whereby a hole bored in the horizontal part of the cart-body may take the place of a mortise. So, alsovythe upright part ot' the cart-body ymay be varied in width according to the requirements of a box-cart, and they may be placed obliquely-that is, flare outwardlyinstead of being placed vertically, as herein represented. Y Y Y What I claim as new,l and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In combination with a cart-body, constructed substantially as herein represented and described, a series of stakes, when said ERAST US BRIGHAM BIGELO W.

Witnesses:

JOHN T. WHITMAN, vDArmiiL MERRIMAN. 

